Washington, D.C. - The Window and Door Manufacturers Association (WDMA) today applauded the House Appropriations Committee for once again adopting a WDMA-supported amendment to the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) 2013 budget which would prohibit the agency from enforcing its Lead: Renovation, Repair and Painting (LRRP) Rule until the agency approves a reliable lead test kit as mandated by the agency's own rule. The amendment was again sponsored by Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-MT) and was approved by a party-line vote of 27-20. Last year's amendment was not enacted when Congress only extended agency funding through a continuing resolution and not separate legislation.

Under the LRRP Rule, EPA was supposed to have approved a commercially-available lead test kit which produced no more than ten percent false positives and five percent false negatives. Currently no such kit is available on the market, with some current kits producing false positives as high as 60 percent, thereby forcing LRRP compliance and the additional costs upon thousands of consumers in homes that otherwise would have tested negative.

"WDMA would like to thank Congressman Rehberg for his leadership and tenacity on this issue and the members of the committee who supported his amendment," said WDMA President and CEO Michael O'Brien. "As we said last year, it is entirely reasonable to expect EPA to comply with their own regulations especially since it expects our industry to comply. We are doing our part, they should do theirs."

The bill now moves to the full House of Representatives for consideration.

Source: Window & Door Manufacturers Association